Network Direct, Inc.

Yesterday Michael and I each received a postcard in the mail that said something like "Guaranteed to win one of 3 prizes". It offers either an 8 day/7 night stay at a resort, an iPod Shuffle, or a $50 mastercard gift card. This thing looks just like spam and like you should throw it away, but seriously, going to this thing is a quick way of making $50. Allow me to explain...

You first call the 1-800 number on the card and the person tells you what days & times are available to attend a 30-minute session, usually at a local hotel. (Ours was at the Fairfield Inn on Texas Ave.) When you go to the session time you agreed on, they explain who they are and pass out one of the three prizes you want. I personally recommend always taking the $50 giftcard - it's like free money. Then the 30-minute presentation begins, that often ends up being about 45 minutes, maybe an hour. Now this is where you need to be careful. The presentation is always very convincing, but you need to make a wise decision and analyze what is best for you. If you are strictly going to this presentation to get the $50 prize, then no need to read on, simply get your prize, listen to the presentation, leave immediately when its over, and you're done.

But if you are struggling with perhaps buying into it, here is the info and my advice to you. Network Direct, Inc. (NDI) is sort of like Amazon.com on a smaller scale and a timeshare combined. You have to pay to become a member. The normal price to become a member is a one-time cost of $4995. The offer to you college students with this post card is a one-time membership joining cost of $1495. On top of this, there is an annual "renewal fee", which is $389/yr for the normal $4995 price and is only $89/yr for the offer to college students (the $1495). This annual renewal fee is optional in the sense that if you join today, 1/30/09, for example, you would receive an invoice on 1/30/10 to pay $89. But you don't have to pay it if you don't plan to use the service immediately. If you don't plan to use the service until May 2010, wait to pay the $89 until May 2010, then that $89 will cover you until May 2011. Then you receive an invoice in May 2011 to pay $89 again, but let's say you won't use the service again until September 2011 - again, wait to pay until Sept., then it will cover you until September 2012. Get the picture? This annual fee is always optional, but must be paid only if you use the service and is valid for one year after you pay the fee. Does that make sense?

Ok, so what services does NDI offer? They offer travel accommodations discounts, as well as very small rental car, airfare, food, and other discounts for use on vacations (or anytime). They own resorts and condos around the world and allow you to stay for a full week for a guaranteed price range of $350-$550 (that is not per night, that is per week). But remember, this only includes the accomodations, not airfare or other expenses. So basically, this service is beneficial if you already plan to travel a lot because it will make your overall total travel price a lot less. This service can be harmful if you had no intentions of traveling and now feel obligated to use the membership you originally paid for. They also offer cruise discounts.

The other side of NDI services is merchandise discounts. They offer a somewhat limited (compared to Amazon.com) array of electronics, jewelry, cars, cameras, furniture, appliances (major and small), etc. So you would benefit from this service if you already plan to purchase several items from these categories in the future and are not that picky in taste - meaning you'd be okay purchasing only from the specific models/items that NDI offers.

So the point and my advice is: if you plan to actually use the service by traveling and purchasing merchandise, then this might be a good way to pay a lot now ($1495 + $89/yr), but to make that up in the future through using the service and saving money on each of those purchases that you would have had to make even without this membership. Also at these presentations, they try to get college students to finance the $1495 in one of two ways: 1) Pay $100 now, then $75/month thereafter or 2) Pay $20 now, then $42/month thereafter, both of these at 1.5% interest per month, which equates to 18% per year. Therefore, never finance the $1495 because that is just like getting into credit card debt where it could take you over 4 years to pay off the $1495 alone (and you may or may not have to pay the annual $89 on top of that if you use the service in any of those 4 years). So if you think you would frequently use this service for travel and merchandise purchasing, then be sure you are comfortable paying the full $1495 all up front in full. Otherwise, walk away.

I know I wrote a lot about this, but that is because Michael and I received these postcards last spring in 2008 and almost bought it. But we didn't because we knew that we have very picky taste and would not want to be tied down to having to only buy specific items they offer. Also, we were still years away from being in a position to use the service (travel and buy furniture and stuff). For the Yagers, I don't think it would benefit us that much because we are very picky with items we want, and when we have a specific item in mind to buy, Michael is very talented about sniffing around for great deals on his own (usually from Amazon.com) and we get items for prices close to what NDI offers them for. But other couples/people might benefit from this membership, but I would guess that most would not. If you want more info, Google "Network Direct scam" and read some of the discussions about it. There are lots of people who probably bought into this and never used the service, which means they did make a bad decision. But there are also people who were already planning to buy items NDI offers and travel and so they benefited from it. Every person is different. Choose wisely.

So for the Yagers, we made an easy $100 ($50 each person) last spring and again last night just by attending the presentation and walking away. I hope we get these post cards every year!